PHOTOS: Find Christmas magic in New York City, for a few more weeks

NEW YORK (TND) — Let’s get one thing out of the way — there’s no avoiding the crowds at Christmastime in New York City.

Most years, as I squeeze my way through a jumble of children bundled up so tightly in hats and scarves that only their eyebrows are visible, and tourists who will only ever see the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree through their phone screens, I gaze up at the undeniably impressive Norway spruce and wonder if the holiday cheer it evokes is enough to justify the surrounding chaos. From my vantage point, the annual light show at Saks Fifth Avenue — again, absolutely an admirable endeavor — continues to inspire that curiosity.

But this year, the imposing 10-story-tall production of music and lights plastered on the facade of the luxury department store felt particularly striking. So much so, I found myself bringing it up in casual conversation.

“Oh, visiting Rockefeller Center around Christmas sounds like a nightmare,” people would say whenever I mentioned it.

“Actually,” I’d respond, “I’d normally agree, but the Saks Fifth Avenue light show is genuinely incredible this year. You should try to go see it too, before they take it down.”

Now, is the three-minute display truly any more magnificent in 2023 than it has been during Christmases prior? That depends on who you ask. Personally, I enjoyed it so much that I waited in the discomfort of the crowd for its eventual repetition several minutes later. For others, the clovers and celestial symbols, intended to represent French fashion designer Christian Dior’s good luck charms, strayed too far from classic Christmas motifs to feel festive.

The message, I think, isn’t to drop everything and head straight to Saks Fifth Avenue simply because I told you this year’s light show is spectacular, but instead to stay open to the possibility of a sudden gust of glittering Christmas magic wrapping you up in red-and-green swirls when you’re least expecting it. Even if we know by now Santa isn’t the one placing presents under the tree on Christmas Eve, there still seems to be something in the air over the holidays, and maybe it can be found in Midtown.

So if you do want to seek out that sense of enchantment at Saks, or Rockefeller Center, or on the Bryant Park ice skating rink, or strolling through the brightly illuminated blocks of Brooklyn’s Dyker Heights, there’s still time. Maybe even with less crowding. It’s not guaranteed, but it stands to reason that fewer folks will be thinking of Christmas lights and festive attractions on a date like January 4. (Check the closing date before you go, but most of New York City’s holiday landmarks will remain open through the first week of 2024.)

And if you’d rather not risk waiting 10 minutes in a mob of tourists to get the best angle for a picture of the 80-foot-tall tree looming over Rockefeller Center’s rink, experience the yuletide wonders of New York City virtually by clicking through the photo gallery, with nary a screaming toddler or a pushy influencer to steal your cheer.